India | Updated Dec 29, 2009 at 11:29pm IST

Two killed as fire breaks out at BARC

Mumbai A fire broke out in a chemical lab at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in suburban Trombay on Tuesday leaving two persons dead but there was no threat of any radioactive leak.

The process of identification of the victims is on and it is suspected that they could be students, sources at the BARC said.

"The fire broke out in the chemical lab on the third floor of the Modular lab atthe BARC," Director and Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Sreekumar Banerjee said.

The fire brigade and police are yet to ascertain the cause of the blaze which broke out on Tuesday afternoon. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was doused within 45 minutes.

Usually, seven people worked in the lab but on Tuesday only two were there.

The Modular Lab at BARC is home to a number of departmental labs and hundreds of people work on different floors of the building. Instruments, chemicals and gadgets required for research are stored at the labs.

Security has been beefed at BARC following intelligence inputs that the country's prestigious nuclear facility faced terror threat.

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)

Comments (5)

All comments will be published after moderation